Video conferencing is gaining traction due to the development of new applications and equipment that make establishing a video conference easy and convenient. However, the quality of the video content in the video conferences is generally low. Part of the quality issue relates to the large amount of bandwidth required to send high quality video between conference locations. Another part of the quality issue relates to the awkward positioning of the video cameras that are used to capture video of the conference locations. Some configurations employ one or two cameras that provide views of most if not all of the conference location. As a result, the resolution of the video is relatively low with respect to any given participant. To increase the resolution of the video for participants, the cameras are moved closer to the active participant and then moved as different participants talk.
Various efforts have been made to address these issues. One noteworthy effort is by Microsoft® and its Round Table conferencing device. The Round Table conferencing device sits in the middle of a conference table and provides a 360 degree view of the conference location and tracks the flow of conversation among the active speakers, such that the audio content of the active speaker is provided to other conference locations along with video content of the 360 degree view of the conference location. As such, close up, high quality video content of the conference participants is available. Unfortunately, the transport of high quality video content from one location to another is very bandwidth intensive. Video conferencing systems, such as the Round Table conference device, generally employ extensive compression, or encoding, techniques to reduce the bandwidth required to transport the video content from one location to another. The extensive encoding generally results in a substantial decrease in quality of the video content in general. Since the video content generally includes images of each of the participants, the quality of the portions of the video allocated to each of the participants, including the active speaker, is also decreased.
When the video content is being viewed at another location by a remote participant, the focus of the remote participant is generally on the active speaker and not on the other non-active participants that are included in the video content. There is a need to provide higher quality video content for the active speaker and little need to provide higher quality video for the other non-active participants. Accordingly, there is a need for a video conferencing technique that is capable of providing higher quality video content for the active speaker while providing lower quality video content for the other non-active participants in a given conference location in a bandwidth efficient and effective manner.